Early in Friday's opening-night performance of Alchemist Theatre's "King Lear," Bo Johnson's aged king called for the map demonstrating his intended division of Britain among his three daughters. Lear's attendants dutifully unfurled it — with the bottom at the top and the top at the bottom. When they tried to hang the map up, it kept falling down.

Director Leda Hoffmann confirmed during intermission that this sequence wasn't planned. But such a topsy-turvy world aptly illustrates the disorder that descends on Britain once the hot-tempered Lear banishes his beloved Cordelia, counting on his remaining two daughters to keep him and Britain safe. | July 13, 2013»Read Full Article